Diego Forlan writes a weekly column for The National, appearing each Friday. The former Manchester United, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid striker has been the top scorer in Europe twice and won the Golden Boot at the 2010 World Cup. Forlan's column is written with the assistance of European football correspondent Andy Mitten.
Manchester United and Manchester City meet in a friendly in Beijing on Monday, but do you think the new managers, Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho, will be treating it like a friendly? No chance.
There are pre-season games where you know there’s a big difference in quality, a training game where the boss gives younger players a chance, where you know you could win 10-0, but end up winning 3-0 instead because the opponents want to look respectable.
You don’t get that when two teams of a similar level meet. There’s too much at stake, with the new managers keen to make an impression. They are both winners, both ultra-competitive; the best in the world.
Neither of them can really afford to lose the derby friendly 4-0. You also have the players who are keen to make an impression on their new managers. At present, you have around 25 hoping to become regular starters. Players are always less certain of their futures when a new manager comes in because they don’t know what he thinks of them.
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Then there is the effect on both clubs’ global image. English football is growing more popular in Asia every year. But more people in China will pay attention to a game in Beijing than Birmingham. They need to put a good show on, even though the teams still have much pre-season work to do.
United are a massive club around the world. I played pre-season tours in North America where crowds of 80,000 watched. There were games at the recent Copa America where there were plenty of empty seats. When Manchester United play in the United States, even for friendly games, the stadiums are full. They had 109,000 watching for a game against Real Madrid two years ago. I spoke to players who only truly realise how big United were after going on tour with the team.
Most players loved going to the US. The training facilities were top level, the weather was usually hot, but not too hot. They were relatively anonymous in the streets, too. There are cities where football is very popular, but you get left alone in the streets. I have just been in Miami, which has large populations of South American, Irish and Italians – people who know football. They recognise you, but they leave you alone.
There are great cities in Asia, too. I enjoy it and I moved to Japan to play there, but there is no way the United team could walk down the street in Bangkok or Shanghai, where United play Borussia Dortmund tonight. They are big stars, which is why the team are playing in China, an emerging football nation.
I have travelled a lot, and seen more United shirts around the world than any other club. Fans come up to me because I played for United. They remember games and goals. In China, they will see most of their current squad and new signings – no chance of a makeshift 11 drawn from the reserves and youth sides in these games.
I’m sure the managers would prefer to prepare for the season at their own training ground, with everyone in one place and no travel. You need at least two weeks of intense training for pre-season. That’s harder when you are flying around the world and getting jet-lagged, but I actually liked to see the world and go to new places, to train in different places such as Nike’s campus in Oregon. Other players didn’t like it. At United, some couldn’t wait to get back home to Manchester. The manager could always excuse them and say they had a little injury if they really wanted to go back.
Yet the biggest teams have to travel now, to play in the countries where those markets have so many fans.
Football, especially the Premier League, is global and sponsors pay millions to star players and to their teams to associate their brands with them. The players' priority is their own performances and fitness, yet part of their wages comes from the commercial deals. The clubs get paid a lot of money to train around the world, too.
Pre-season used to be about getting back to fitness after a summer break. It used to be about coming back and doing long runs. Not now. A top-level player has to stay fit throughout the summer. I always had a personal trainer and other players do the same, though I know players who prefer to do absolutely nothing before they return. Then again, I know players who absolutely hated training, yet they were so good on the pitch that the manager had to pick them.
Every player is different. If some players don’t train then they put on weight. With me, I became thinner because I would lose the muscle built up from training.
Training techniques change, too. There was a long-standing trend for running during pre-season, which a lot of players hated. Then a trend for a focus on physical strength. Now, teams favour ball work from the first days back. You can do long intense running with a ball at your feet, too.
But you still need a rest before you start. I saw the images of Lionel Messi and Wayne Rooney holidaying on boats in Ibiza. You need at least three weeks where you disconnect after a season where you have played so many games and been under continuous pressure. You can still stay on top of your fitness, but you need to recharge your batteries before the new season.
Those games are important, too, because you can’t beat match practice and seeing how your new teammates play. United and City will get that on Monday, but with the added edge that comes from a derby with two new superstar managers looking to land the first blow before the real action beginsnext month.
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